Home ›› 16 Apr 2023 ›› Front
Saimon and Rakib were pouring water on Sabbir’s head on the footpath opposite of Dhaka New Super Market on Saturday. Not because of the heat wave. They were trying to bring some physical relief to Sabbir as he was too grief-stricken after losing the shop he worked at in the market, which caught fire early in the morning.
All three worked at different clothing shops on the market’s second floor. The fire did not allow them to save anything from their shops.
“We’ve lost everything. Our Eid is over. We are helpless and hopeless now. Last night we went home happy because the sale was good on Pahela Baishakh. This morning, we have been left penniless sitting on the footpath,” Sabbir managed to say while breaking down in tears.
Businessman Mohammad Masum said their Eid-centric sales had just picked up the pace on Friday when he sold around Tk 1.5 lakh worth of products. He also had around Tk 15-20 lakh worth of goods in his shop. He had gone home just before Seheri and by morning, he found himself left with nothing but ashes.
Just like them, several hundreds of traders at the New Super Market (South), a shopping place between the popular New Market and Dhaka College, are also in the same predicament.
The fire broke out at the market at around 5:40am on Saturday. The first unit of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) reached the spot at 5:43am. Afterwards, 30 firefighting units — assisted by the army, navy, air force, BGB, RAB, police, Ansar and VDP, and locals — brought the blaze under control at around 9:10am.
According to FSCD, a total of 30 people, including 24 Fire Service personnel, two volunteers, two Ansar members, one scout member and one air force sergeant sustained injuries during their frantic efforts to douse the fire. They were later sent to different hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
How did the fire start?
Traders alleged the fire started from the sparks of some electric wires that got snapped when Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) personnel started to dismantle a portion of a foot over-bridge adjacent to the market in the early hours.
Dhaka New Market Babosayee Samity President Dewan Aminul Islam said that a security guard saw a flash at the time and rushed to turn off the 11,000-volt line’s main switch.
Soon after, the guard saw smoke coming out of the market’s third floor. He told them that if he had not turned off the main switch, the situation could have been worse, Aminul said.
“The third floor had the central air conditioning system. The channel set up to control and spread the airflow had wires both inside and outside. However or wherever it started, the fire managed to spread quickly through that channel,” he said.
FSCD Director General Brigadier General Md Main Uddin said he has heard about this theory but the exact reason and point of the fire’s origin are yet to be known. Their investigation will hopefully determine both soon.
He said since the situation at the New Super Market was similar to the Bangabazar Complex market, which was completely gutted in a massive fire on April 4, it will take some time to completely extinguish the fire.
Main added, “Our focus is on controlling the fire and avoiding loss of life and property. Firefighting units will work until the flames are completely extinguished.”
DSCC rejects blame
Meanwhile, DSCC Public Relations Officer Abu Naser has brushed off the traders’ claim. He said that the adjacent over-bridge was declared risky and closed last year. But traders reopened it without permission and have been using it.
DSCC on April 12 deployed a contractor to dismantle the bridge’s portion that directly went to the market’s second floor. When they went to carry out the order early on Saturday, that portion was closed off between 2am and 5:15am.
The contractor’s team left the scene around 30 minutes before the fire started at around 5:50am, said the DSCC official in a press release.
Moreover, the workers operated some 400 metres away from the spot where the fire reportedly originated. The workers did not use any gas cutter. They used a bucket-wheeled excavator to dismantle that portion of the bridge. It’s pointless to accuse DSCC of the incident, read the press release.
Talking to reporters later in the day, DSCC Mayor Fazle Noor Taposh also rejected the allegations, saying the dismantling process followed all proper procedures. There was no way the fire could have been the result of that because the workers used blunt instruments.
“The decision to take that part of the bridge was taken earlier considering people and traders’ safety. The timing of the dismantling and the fire is a coincidence,” he said but urged the government and law enforcement agencies to look into similar recent fire incidents as rumours of sabotage have started to spread.
Taposh said that this market’s design and structure have been changed multiple times. The entryways and windows were kept open at the beginning for better ventilation but they were closed off when the businessmen turned the market into an air-conditioned place.
No comments should be made before the probe report comes to light. The city corporation’s future steps will follow the report, he said.
The mayor added that their disaster prevention committee will sit after Eid with all stakeholders and discuss the markets at risk and markets with illegal portions.
Is it sabotage?
Victim traders and employees of New Super Market said the fire in their market took place just 10 days after the Bangabazar fire. In both incidents, the fire started nearly around the same time in the morning. The Bangabazar fire had broken out at around 6:10am.
They alleged that both fires were premeditated and the government should look into these fires properly.
FSCD DG Main Uddin also said that it has become necessary to properly investigate why several markets caught fire right before Eid.
This was the fourth big such incident in Dhaka city alone in a month that shocked the country. Affected traders and people from all walks of life have been wondering whether these were a series of acts of sabotage or accidents.
Responding to questions on this from reporters at the New Super Market area at around 11:30am, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said, “Most of the markets in our city are risky because of the way they are built. Fire Service has declared many of them vulnerable.”
Last month, two explosions rocked Science Lab and Gulistan areas. Then after the Bangabazar fire on April 4, a fire also broke out at a market at Nawabpur in the early hours of Friday.
“And now the New Super Market caught fire today. It will be investigated whether this incident was an accident or an act of sabotage. We are investigating keeping all the issues in mind,” Faruq added.
Nearly Tk100cr lost
Dhaka New Super Market Babosayee Samity’s (South) Adhoc Committee Convener Maruf Hossain told The Business Post that there were about 1,300 shops and godowns in the three-storey market.
He estimated that around 250-300 shops were completely or partially gutted in the fire, leaving shop owners and traders to suffer a loss of nearly Tk 100 crore.
“We will remove the burnt goods today and tomorrow [Sunday]. We hope to reopen the market from Monday,” he added.
The committee’s Member Secretary Abul Khair also said that the fire could not be fully extinguished till 5pm. “We are yet to ascertain how or from where the fire started.
“We suspect the fire may have been the result of the DSCC activities. We’ll be able to confirm once we get the footage from the CCTV cameras installed in and around the market,” he added.
Meanwhile, several nearby markets, including Dhaka New Market, Chandni Chawk Market and Chandrima Super Market, were temporarily closed after the fire at New Super Market.
Bangladesh Shop Owners Association President Helal Uddin said that they are monitoring the overall situation. “The markets in this area will reopen once the situation improves.”
